, 1887-09-18
A FAMOUS PREACHER.
A Short Ske tch of DR.. Parker and
His Work.

Copyrighted 1887 by THE CHEYENNE LEADER.l
Boston. Sept. l6.-The recent arrival
in America OF Dr.. Parker, the famous
English preacher, renders some account
OF the man and his work timely and inter
esting. Especially is this so when the
chief purpose of his visit, properly and
politely hidden under the acceptable guise
of eulogium to his dead friend, Beecher,
is to test his own liking for the large
place left vacant in Plymouth and this
country when Beecher's voice was stilled,
and also to test, in a very able and diplo.
matte manner, the liking for himself and
his ways on the part of those who have
the making of any man doubly famous
by naming him worthy to succeed the
greatest pulpit orator and one of the most
able and genial men any country ever
produced.
DR.. Parker will also relieve the pensive
and proper gloom of the occasion by turn
ing aside from clerical diplomacy and unc-
tuous eulogium long enough to permit a
portion OF our people to See and hear him
on the lecture platform. This will afford
America an opportunity to give up
GooDLY AMOUNT OF MONEY,
and console itself that it is not yet wholly
English. Then DR.. Parker will 40 home
agaln-or, if he remain in Brooklyn.
after a little time he will wish he had.
For, great as DR.. Parker really is in Lon.
don, there he can best remain great. He
is along towards so years of age now. He
Is English and an autocrat. Boundless as
has been the good in his London work,
he has had those conditions to deal with
permitting him to rule, compel, mould,
and for a gentler word | will say tyranlze.
Should he remain in Brooklyn he would
have to aoceptably serve a universal intel
lectuality and spirituality in this country.
That ID quite different from pleasing a dis
tinct, aud not altogether spiritual, class in
Cheapside. London. But he Is q man of
such splendid achievement that he is
worth knowing and welcoming here for a
brief time any time.
About all churches of London there is a
deep and fascinating interest. The his
tory OF the mother land ofour own people
speaks silently but forcetully from every
thing concerning the oldest. abbey or the
most modern chapel. That which has
the greatest significance is the London
| huiOh nOlh VI " udJs DIduulDR OuL III
bold relief in all this is the great London
Congregational church, the City Temple,
as well as the. labors of its pastor, DR..
Parker, who as a popular preacher, is
second TO none in England, save possibly
Spurgeon, aud thousands claim he is
quite the latter's equal.
II NEW CITY TEMPLE
The City Temple is down in Cheapside,
on Holborn viaduct. 1t is distinctively a
church for the people. Its founder was one
OF the most illustrious divines of Crom
we'll time; and it was in 1910 that the
Rev. Thomas Goodwin, D. D., founded
the original of this church. He was at
the time chaplain to Oliver Cromwell,
preacher to the state. and pastor
Of the Magdalen College, Oxford.
At the organization of the
Archer lane, Thomas street, and from
that time until 1919. services were held
in various places In the same locality. In
that year they were begun permanently
in Poultry chapel, Cheapside, where DR..
Parker, in 1867, followed the Rev. John
Clayton as its pastor. DR.. Parker came
to only a remnant of the congregation. as
dlssensions had arisen, and the majority
of the church had withdrawn with the
Rev. MIR. Clayton to form a new congre
cation. Notwithstanding this most un
propitious beginning it was only a short
time before the walls of the old Poultry
chapel were quite too contracted to hold
the people that thronged to hear this
man who was able to engage their atten
ton, and unite them with the simple
truths presented with power and elo-
quence. The old Poultry chapel was
finally sold, and the present edlfce on
Holborn viaduct erected at u cost of
S350,000. 1t is a fine, substantial build
ing, seating over 5000 people. The in
terror arrangements are most plain, but
it is the most comfortable church, in
every particular, l ever visited. The
pulpit is quite different from anything we
have in America. 1t is eight feet square,
and about twelve feet in height. 1t is
entered only by stairs leading 10 the
church study. The grand organ and
choir occupy the gallery at the rear Of
and above the pulpit.
THE DOCTORS BIRTHPLACE.
DR.. Parker was born in 1880, near Ban
bury. This is the quaint old English
tow not only made noted as being DR..
Parker's birth place, but is also famous in
the nursery rhymes, where the Dubious
eyed infant is recklessly bounded through
the air from the parental knee to the
unctuous melodies of
Ride a black horse to Banburv Cross
To see an old woman ride n jack-horse
Rim 9 on Ler fingers and bells on her toes
She Will have music wherever she goes -"
While it has become equally properly his
toric, at least among all English people.
as being the place where "Banbury
cakes those greasy, d~eath-dealing tarts
sold by impudent pug nosed lads at every
railway station in England, originated.
The great English preachers father was
a stone mason, but by economy he was
able to provide for the instruction of his
son in mathematics and the classics, and
the youth was atterward given a course in
philosophy at University College. London.
AS a boy he was not only inclined to liter
airy pursuits, but seems to have early shown
a prediction, and even a longing for his
present work. When only a little more
than Is years of age, he preached his first
sermon among the miners down in the
sal;-pits Of Northumberland; and no doubt
his remarkably ability for putting great
truths in simple words had its origin in
his own early nearness to simple ways and
...-1, l. 1870 i -. l.